Precious Little Things
by ViridianNight
Summary: When a baby girl pops into Enjolras and Grantaire's life, they quickly learn a few things: that Grantaire is the greatest daddy ever, and that Enjolras really shouldn't have any contact with small children.


Enjolras keeps waking up to random noises that he can make no sense of. He's not even sure if they're real or not. They could just be a part of a dream, probably from those weird candies that Courfeyrac had given him earlier. He should have learned long ago not to accept anything of questionable origin from Courfeyrac.

He rolls over to pull Grantaire's lean, comforting body to his chest, but instead finds a warm spot on the mattress where his boyfriend lay just minutes ago. The comforter on his side is pushed to the foot of the bed and the pillow is askew, almost fallen off of the bed. Enjolras groans and opens his eyes, coming slowly but fully into consciousness. Then he realizes that the loud crying is what woke him up. But it that can't be right because it sounds like a baby, and there is a strict no children after dark (or ever, really but apparently, Gavroche doesn't count since rules don't apply to the Thenardiers.) rule in Enjolras' apartment.

Tugging one of the knit sweaters that Jehan knitted, Enjolras stumbles out to the living room, wincing when his bare feet hit the cold wooden floor. "Grantaire, what are you doing out here? Please tell me I'm dreaming and that there's no child crying," he groans.

Grantaire turns around with a confused look on his face. He only has his fleece pajama pants on and his hair is sticking up even more than usual. And he's holding a bundle in his arms. A crying, wriggling bundle.

"No. No, I'm definitely dreaming," Enjolras mutters, turning and heading back to the bedroom. "You are not holding a baby right now."

"Wait, Enjolras," Grantaire grabs Enjolras' upper arm and pulls him back around to face him. And the baby. "You're not dreaming."

"Then why the fuck do you have a baby screaming in your arms? A baby!"

Grantaire bounces the baby lightly. "It's gonna sound really strange."

"Yes. This is a strange situation. Continue," Enjolras demands, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Uh, so this is my cousin's kid. Kristy's, the one who came to one of our protests?"

Enjolras nods. "Yes, I remember. But why is her baby with us?"

"She just came by after checking my apartment. She's a single mother and she's only twenty or something. She asked me if I could take care of Roxanne because she's moving around a lot for work and trying to put herself through school. She'll come by to visit once in a while but she can't take Roxanne around with her. I thought I could help out."

"Why you?" Enjolras snaps. "You're not much older than her."

Grantaire looks up from the baby. "There's not many people in my family that she can turn to."

Enjolras falls silent and gazes at the now sleeping girl in his boyfriend's arms.

"She even lugged over a crib and some supplies," Grantaire says, gesturing to the pile of things near the door. "And she was desperate so I just took Roxanne without thinking. It was stupid. I'm really sorry, but what else could I do?." He drops his gaze to the ground.

"It's... It's okay, I guess," Enjolras says guiltily. "As long as we can take care of her I guess it's okay. But you're going to be doing everything."

Grantaire looks up, his eyes sparkling. "Oh thank you." He hugs Enjolras awkwardly with one arm and Roxanne stuck between them. She stirs and abruptly wakes up, crying.

"Oh shit," Grantaire says, letting go of Enjolras cradling the baby to his chest. "Don't cry again Roxanne. C'mon now." He sits down on the sofa and continues to speak softly to her, rocking her in his arms lightly. Enjolras sighs, going back into their room and struggling to untangle a blanket from the rest of the sheets. By the time he makes it back out to the living room, Grantaire is gently setting Roxanne down into her crib and tucking her pale lavender blanket around her. Enjolras sits down at the sofa and waits for Grantaire to join him. He drapes the blanket around Grantaire's bare shoulders and rubs his cold hands.

"Thanks," Grantaire mutters, clutching the blanket with his free hand.

The two sit in silence until Enjolras asks,

"Do you want children of your own?"

Grantaire contemplates, staring at his hand in Enjolras'. "I-I do. I really, really do, but I'm also really scared of having them," Grantaire says, his voice slowly fading to a whisper.

"Why?" Enjolras asks, wrapping his arm around Grantaire's waist.

"Well, I mean, I'm an alcoholic, I'm recovering from depression and I have never had a stable job. I can barely take care of myself, how can I be responsible for another human being? Especially not a tiny one that has to depend on me for everything."

Grantaire looks up right after that statement when Roxanne makes a little gurgling noise. Enjolras watches and he immediately gets up to smooth her sparse hair and gently touch her chubby cheek. Enjolras observes all of this with a smile creeping onto his face. After making sure the little girl is completely fine, Grantaire settles back down next to Enjolras and lays his head on Enjolras' shoulder.

"I think you would be an excellent father," Enjolras tells Grantaire, lacing their fingers together.

"Mm, you really think so?" Grantaire asks drowsily, his head slipping onto Enjolras' chest.

"Yes, I really do," Enjolras replies, letting Grantaire's head fall into his lap, their hands still tangled together awkwardly.

Grantaire doesn't say anything to that, instead asks, "Can I stay here tonight? I want to be here in case Roxanne needs anything or wakes up. You go back to bed though. You're miserable if you don't get a good night's sleep."

"I'll be fine. I'm staying here with you," Enjolras says.

"You'll be cold," Grantaire argues, lifting himself off of Enjolras. "You can't stand the cold."

"Says the man with no shirt on," Enjolras says, lightly pushing Grantaire back down. "You're going to get sick if you keep wandering around at night wearing only pants."

"You like it," Grantaire murmurs, his head dropping back onto Enjolras' legs.

Enjolras smiles. "I'll like better when you're not sleep deprived."

Grantaire mumbles something but his breath quickly deepens and the fist clutching the blanket loosens. Enjolras takes his hand off of Grantaire's and tucks the blanket around Grantaire's shoulders. Grantaire hums contently and shifts against Enjolras' lap. Enjolras feels himself falling asleep slowly, head drooping against his chest. Eventually, he sleeps, his fingers curled in Grantaire's dark hair.

Until he wakes to the sound of the goddamn baby wailing.

This is almost worse than the time that Courfeyrac burst in during finals week playing Adam Lambert while dancing and yelling about how his (and only his, not Enjolras') finals were done. He was also drunk and half naked, wearing only orange shorts and suspenders. Considering how Enjolras had literally thrown Courfeyrac out of the apartment during that incident, this whole baby thing might not work out.

But then Enjolras cracks open his eyes as the wailing stops and sees Grantaire rocking the girl in his arms, looking at her lovingly and singing softly to her. Enjolras decides that the baby can stay for a while as long as Grantaire keeps singing.

_Hey Jude, don't make it bad  
Take a sad song and make it better  
Remember to let her into your heart  
Then you can start to make it better _


End file.
